|
| |
::TV NEWS::
LE Newsletter - March 4, 2010
|
|
|
Corner Gas Stars Out From Behind Butt
Source:
www.thestar.com - Rob Salem
(February 28, 2010) Those of us who have, comedically speaking,
been running on fumes for almost a year
will be relieved to hear that the pumps at Corner Gas are
back up and running. Sort of.
At least, the key personnel who fuelled the late, lamented CTV
sitcom are back, most significantly its star and writer/creator,
Brent Butt,
in support of his top-billed actress wife,
Nancy Robertson,
in their newly minted mutual vehicle,
Hiccups.
And also, in the follow-up Monday-night time slot – the new
shows air at 8 and 8:30, respectively – former co-star and now
series lead Fred Ewanuick, along with a trio of writer/producers
from Corner Gas (and This Hour Has 22 Minutes),
unveil their own new half-hour, Dan for Mayor.
This is, for CTV – to further belabour the obvious gas-station
metaphor – the series equivalent of topping up
the tank, changing the oil, checking the brakes and rotating the
tires.
It remains to be seen just how well and how long the vehicles
will run. Will either or both shows stall on the on-ramp, or
careen out of control like a recalled Toyota?
"I hope it works out," allows Ewanuick. "It'll be great, if
people get behind both shows, to have a good Canadian comedy
night."
It can't hurt that the new homegrown comedy hour precedes the
two top-rated CBS sitcoms, Two and a Half Men and The
Big Bang Theory.
But let's give credit where it is due. Though this country has
proved itself more than capable of producing high-quality
situation comedy, there was always reluctance by our own mass
audience to embrace it in any significant numbers – certainly
not in proportion to the American onslaught of prime-time
network sitcoms that dominate the dial.
"I don't know why," Ewanuick shrugs. "I mean, before us, there
was King of Kensington and The Beachcombers and
stuff. But somehow all our talent ends up south of the border.
It's like, `Sure, Canadians can do comedy.' But when we do it at
home, they don't want to have anything to do with it."
Until Corner Gas. Right out of the box, the show
attracted an unheard-of million-plus viewers, becoming the
country's most-watched sitcom, U.S. or Canadian, by a
whopping 33 per cent.
But pre-existing popularity, especially on this scale, is very
much a mixed blessing. I can remember two-time loser Jason
Alexander (Bob Patterson, Listen Up and now, in another
sense entirely, as spokesman for diet giant Jenny Craig),
addressing for the umpteenth time the so-called "Seinfeld
Curse," complaining that too much or too little George Costanza
in any subsequent sitcom role would equally alienate the
formerly faithful.
Of the two Corner Gas grads, Robertson's task is the
easiest: Hiccups' Millie Uptown, an emotionally erratic
children's author, is softer, sillier, more scattered and less
cynical than Wanda Dollard, and infinitely better dressed.
"Not that I've ever been a super `girlie' gal," Robertson
qualifies. "If you came to my house you wouldn't find one doily.
But it's nice to wear clothes that I would wear myself.
"I mean, when we wrapped Corner Gas, they asked me if I
wanted to keep my wardrobe. And I'm, `Oh really? You mean I get
another T-shirt?' But I never wanted Wanda to have a ton of new
clothes. I always thought she should have a layer of dust on
her."
In that sense, Millie is Wanda's polar opposite. "She's much
more theatrical," Robertson agrees. "Which I love – I mean, I am
an actor.
"There are more things, I think, that Millie can get away with,
and more things she can experience. To Millie, because she's so
childlike herself, everything is a new experience ... even if
she's already seen it 20 times. She lives in the moment. Like a
goldfish. And then she's on to the next thing."
Helping Millie navigate her crisis-crammed existence – the
"hiccups" of the title – is bumbling self-proclaimed "life
coach" Stan Dirko, familiar to fans as the former Brent Leroy,
and to Robertson as her real-life husband, writer and
co-producer Brent Butt.
Butt had not planned to play the role, or any role, himself. But
CTV, quite understandably, insisted.
Behind and/or in front of the camera, Robertson is just happy to
have him along for the ride. "We work really well together," she
affirms. "Even before we were a couple – I mean, that's how we
first got to know each other on Corner Gas. So it's an
easy place to go to.
"When we're on set, I never really think of him as my husband. I
actually flirt more with the crew than with him."
Good for the goose, if not so much the gander, especially when
the gander is cavorting on screen with a very hot Latina screen
spouse (episodic actress Paula Rivera).
"I remember coming onto the set one day, and they're in bed
together," Robertson laughs. "And I'm, like, `Excuse me.' And
then I thought, `Wait a minute ...'"
Fred Ewanuick's campaign for Dan for Mayor is perhaps
more inherently problematic, surrounded (except in the writers'
room) by unfamiliar faces, playing a character fairly far
removed from the dimly adorable Hank Yarbo of Corner Gas.
"I have no way of judging (how audiences will react)," Ewanuick
allows.
"I mean, hopefully we've made him likeable enough that people
will want to get on board.
"He is completely ... well, I wouldn't say opposite to Hank. I
mean, there are similarities. They're both pretty honest guys.
He's the same kind of character. They're both guys that you want
to see do well."
Which in affable bartender Dan Phillips' case means winning over
the voters of fictional small-town Wessex, Ont. (exteriors
Kitchener, interiors Toronto).
"He seriously thinks he can be mayor," Ewanuick says. And in 13
weeks, we'll find out if he's right.
"Actually, we don't know," the actor acknowledges. "All 13
(first-season episodes) have been shot, but the way we wrote the
last script ... well, all I can say is that there's an election.
"If the show is a success, and we do a second season, I guess we
would have to have him actually become mayor. Or go on to
something else."
Dan for Premier? Perhaps even Prime Minister?
"I'd be into that," Ewanuick enthuses.
"That would be awesome." |
|
| |
|
::LANGFIELD
ENTERTAINMENT:: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADIAN TWIST::
